Raise the Hammer

Comment 54741

I am re-posting this from another thread. I wrote The Spec but I doubt my letter will get printed.

OK, Burlington is probably going to take the Ti-Cats bait of 'zero' costs, so where does that leave Hamilton. This is an inventory of Hamilton's situation as I see and remember it.

-The Ti-Cats are going to leave come hell or highwater

-The Ti-Cats leaving changes IWS from an strategic asset to a liability that will have to be torn down or renovated to the tune of 20 million

-IWS maintenance costs will give little to no return on the expenditure compared to the low 20 year maintenance costs on a new stadium

-A city of 500,000 will need to own and control some of it's own stadium space. Ron Joyce stadium DOES NOT satisfy this

-We own the West Harbour land

-We own the IWS land

-We have a once in lifetime opportunity to access Federal and Provincial capital for a stadium

-A small West Harbour stadium frees up Future Fund money for other projects, such as spurring development of the old IWS lands

-Nothing is stopping Hamilton from building a small Pan Am stadium on the current IWS site. The Ti-Cats lease expires in 2011, Hamilton is under no obligation to re-sign that lease after 2011. After 2011, where the Ti-Cats play until their Aldershot stadium is constructed is NOT our problem

-Ian Troop has clearly stated that the Pan-Am stadium is Hamilton's to give up. Hamilton has the power to decide to keep a 6000 seat stadium within it's city limits no matter what Burlington and the Ti-Cats desire

So what conclusions can we come to looking at this inventory? My personal opinion is that IWS will have to be replaced fairly soon. We can replace it using Hamilton's capital or we can replace it with help from the Federal and Provincial government. For me, it's a pretty easy decision, Hamilton needs to build now accessing HostCo funding.

I would like to propose that IWS stadium be torn down and the new Pan-Am stadium be built on the same location instead of the West Harbour. There is even room for a velodrome on the IWS lands. Lets re-imagine something bigger and better for the West Harbour. The real hard part of this path is Hamilton will have to cover the Rheem remediation costs. That is a tough proposition to consider. Please share your ideas and thoughts.

Also, IWS is already serviced with the required utilities. Building the new stadium there will save a fortune in infrastructure costs.